Femtocell base station synchronization
AssigneeIntel Corporation
InventorNicholas William Whinnett
Life of this patent
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Abstract
There is provided a method of determining a timing estimate for use in synchronizing a femtocell base station to a macrocell base station, the method in the femtocell base station comprising determining an uplink timing estimate from a signal transmitted from a mobile device to the macrocell base station, the mobile device being served by the macrocell base station; determining a downlink timing estimate from a signal transmitted from the macrocell base station; and determining a timing estimate for use in synchronizing the femtocell base station to the macrocell base station from the downlink timing estimate and the uplink timing estimate.
Claims21
A method of determining a timing estimate for use in synchronizing a femtocell base station to a macrocell base station, the method in the femtocell base station comprising:
- determining an uplink timing estimate from a signal transmitted from a mobile device to the macrocell base station, the mobile device being served by the macrocell base station;
- determining a downlink timing estimate from a signal transmitted from the macrocell base station;
- and
- determining a timing estimate for use in synchronizing the femtocell base station to the macrocell base station from the downlink timing estimate and the uplink timing estimate.
A femtocell base station for use in a communication network that includes at least one macrocell base station, the femtocell base station comprising:
- a processor configured to execute computer-readable code;
- a memory accessible by the processor, the memory storing non-transitory computer-readable code configured to:
- determine an uplink timing estimate from a signal transmitted from a mobile device to the macrocell base station, the mobile device being served by the macrocell base station;
- determine a downlink timing estimate from a signal transmitted from the macrocell base station;
- and
- determine a timing estimate for use in synchronizing the femtocell base station to the macrocell base station from the downlink timing estimate and the uplink timing estimate.
A femtocell base station for use in a communication network comprising at least one macrocell base station, the femtocell base station comprising:
- a processor configured to determine a timing estimate for use in synchronizing the femtocell base station to the macrocell base station by:
- determining an uplink timing estimate from a signal transmitted from a mobile device to the macrocell base station, the mobile device being served by the macrocell base station;
- determining a downlink timing estimate from a signal transmitted from the macrocell base station;
- and
- determining a timing estimate for use in synchronizing the femtocell base station to the macrocell base station from the downlink timing estimate and the uplink timing estimate.
-25. (canceled)
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.